FILE - In this Jan. 3, 2013 file photo, a worker collects pieces of shark fins dried on the rooftop of a factory building in Hong Kong. For centuries, shark fin, usually served as soup, has been a coveted delicacy in Chinese cooking. In the United States, members of the fishing industry say they will dig in against 2016 legislation in Congress that proponents believe will help shut down the country's shark fin industry for good. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

A bill that would ban the import of shark fins into Canada has been passed unanimously by the Senate Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans and is moving on to the Red Chamber.

Bill S-238 is sponsored by Conservative Sen. Michael MacDonald, who has called it a move against what the “cruel and wasteful practice” of shark finning, which sees the fins of live sharks hacked off and the shark tossed back into the ocean, left to drown or bleed to death.

Although shark finning has been prohibited in Canada since 1994, shark fins can still be imported in Canada. The problem is it’s incredibly difficult to trace and determine if they’ve come from endangered species of sharks once the fins are no longer attached.

MacDonald’s bill initially proposed banning the importation of any fin that’s not attached to the shark carcass, with some exceptions made for scientific research.

At committee yesterday, it was amended to include the exportation of shark fins to bring things in line with Canada’s international trade obligations. To address concerns by some senators and witnesses throughout the hearings, the bill was also amended to ban the import and export of shark fin derivatives and products to capture a full range of products that might otherwise get through in a loophole.

Last year, 170,000 kg of fins were imported into Canada — a 60 per cent increase over the last five years. The majority came from Hong Kong and China, and were likely sourced from finning.

Outside of East Asia, Canada is the largest importer of fins in the world.

During its hearings, the committee heard that each year, an estimated 100 million sharks are killed to satisfy global demand for shark fins.

Witnesses also repeatedly told senators that sharks are particularly vulnerable because they mature and reproduce more slowly than other species in the sea, which means they’re being caught faster than they can reproduce. Kim Elmslie, campaign manager with Oceana Canada, said it’s estimated they’re being caught 30 per cent faster than their rate of reproduction.

Around the world, finning has decimated shark populations, which puts entire ocean ecosystems at risk of collapse. Sharks are critical to keeping oceans healthy, because as apex predators, they help regulate other species and are thought to help coral reefs thrive.

Recently, the University of Guelph conducted DNA testing on shark fins being sold in Vancouver to determine what species they were. Of the 59 shark fin samples that were collected, 76 per cent were from shark species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s list of vulnerable species.

Last week, the committee heard from the family of Canadian biologist and filmmaker Rob Stewart, whose award-winning documentary Sharkwater is credited with raising awareness of the plight of sharks around the globe — and saving countless of them in the process. Brian and Sandra Stewart spoke to senators the day before the one-year anniversary of their son’s death. Stewart died while diving in Florida last January. He was filming the sequel to Sharkwater at the time.

Although many countries have banned shark finning, particularly in the wake of their son’s film, Sandra said the problem is that importation is still legal.

“You can fin as many sharks as you want, and as long as you bring them into a country on a shipping boat, not a fishing boat, you’re okay. It leaves a giant loophole in the laws.”

Now that the bill has left committee, Julie MacInnes, campaign manager at Humane Society International/Canada, called on the Senate to quickly pass the bill “to protect sharks and the ocean ecosystems that depend on them.”

“This is the third bill introduced by Canadian parliamentarians in the past five years to prohibit Canadian trade in products of shark finning. In that time, an estimated 500 million sharks have been killed for their fins, causing unimaginable suffering and threatening fragile ocean ecosystems,” she said.

“Canada is the largest importer of shark fins outside of Asia and our government must act now to end our participation in this globally condemned trade.”

A 2013 poll by Environics that found 81 per cent of Canadians support banning imported fins. Seventeen Canadian municipalities have prohibited the sale of shark fin products, while both Montreal and Toronto have recently passed motions in support of Bill S-238.

In British Columbia Green Party MLA Sonia Fursteneau has tabled a bill that would prohibit the sale and distribution of shark fins in the province.